San Francisco won 35-13 on Sunday and walked out of Levi’s Stadium with a wide receiver problem that is getting hard to laugh off.
Mike Evans left late in the second half with a hip injury. Demarcus Robinson was carted off in the second quarter with a right ankle. By the time the 49ers finished dismantling Miami, the healthy wideouts on the roster numbered four, and one of them was the guy who had just limped off.
Shanahan Says Evans Is Fine
Kyle Shanahan was direct about it afterward. Asked whether it seemed serious, he said no.
“It can always change tomorrow, but he would’ve played if the game was different,” Shanahan said. “I think he would’ve been able to come back in.”
San Francisco led 35-6 when Evans came out. There was no reason to put a 33-year-old receiver back on the field in a game that was over. Before leaving, Evans caught all three of his targets for 54 yards, including a 27-yard catch-and-run that got him out of bounds at the one.
Robinson Is the Actual Bad News
The Evans update is encouraging. The Robinson update is not.
He was carted off in the second quarter and ruled out, with the initial diagnosis a high right ankle sprain. High ankle sprains do not clear up in a week. That injury tends to cost a receiver a month or more, and San Francisco does not have a month of depth to spend.
Count the Bodies
De’Zhaun Stribling had surgery on a left ankle and is looking at roughly 10 weeks. Ricky Pearsall had season-ending knee surgery in training camp. Christian Kirk is on injured reserve. Now Robinson joins the list.
That leaves Deebo Samuel, Jacob Cowing and KhaDarel Hodge as the healthy receivers, plus Evans assuming Shanahan is right about the hip.
Four receivers is not a room. It is a group chat.
Why Evans Is Here in the First Place
San Francisco signed Evans in 2026 free agency on a three-year deal worth up to $60.4 million with $16.3 million guaranteed, ending a 12-season run in Tampa Bay. The signing came off a 2025 season where he caught just 30 passes for 368 yards and three touchdowns while missing nine games with a concussion and a collarbone injury.
The 49ers bet that a healthy Evans at 33 is still a problem for defenses. Through two weeks that bet is fine. The issue is that they also needed everyone around him to stay upright, and nobody has.
The Offense Is Working Anyway
Brock Purdy went 20-of-22 for 287 yards and two touchdowns against Miami. The 49ers are 2-0 after beating the Rams 27-7 in Week 1. Shanahan has spent his entire career scheming around missing skill players, and he is doing it again.
Arizona comes to Levi’s Stadium in Week 3. San Francisco will probably win that game too. The question is what this offense looks like in November if Evans misses time and the depth chart has not been restocked, because right now one more hip or ankle turns a 2-0 start into a very different season.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.